[jb1dsl]

I wont be changing to a verizon plan either. They cant touch the price and benifits of my old alltel plan. Unlimited data, text, nights and weekends at 7, m2m, and the list keeps going.

[jb1dsl]

Did anyone else that can not get facetime to work figure anything out through the night. Still not working and no answers yet

[scorpiodsu]

Did anyone else that can not get facetime to work figure anything out through the night. Still not working and no answers yet

Not sure it will work with the old Alltel plan.

[jb1dsl]

Not sure it will work with the old Alltel plan.

If it wont work on an Alltel plan then facetime isnt worth changing for. There has to be a way big V can get it to work.

[DoctorK]

Spent about 30 minutes w/ Verizon tech support last night, and 30 mins w/ Apple this morning. Apparently it's very common w/ former Alltel subscribers. That's not me though - I did an ESN swap. I was able to face time before the ESN swap, but after the swap I get the "waiting for activation." Things I tried, both on my own and at Apple Tech Support's prompting (all of which were unsuccessful for me, but might work for someone else):
- reset network settings (numerous times)
- reset all settings (numerous times)
- turn facetime on and off and back on again
- turn facetime off, power phone down, then back on again, then turn facetime on again
- hard reset
- make sure I could send and receive both SMS and MMS

The Apple guy then put me on hold and worked w/ Verizon to ensure that my text messaging was set up correctly (it was). Then he asked her to remove text messaging from my account and then re-provision it. Still didn't work.

So, the Apple guy has escalated it to the FaceTime engineers to find out if they are receiving the SMS Activation Request from my phone (they should be) and if so, why their servers are not send back an "OK to Activate" message. May just need to be reset or something.

He hopes to have an answer and get back to me today. I will post back here when I hear back.

My guess is that the FaceTime servers are getting the SMS from my phone and denying activation because they "think" my phone should be assigned to a different number. We'll see...

[DoctorK]

OK, the reply from the FaceTime engineers is that, because I switched ESNs, I have to do a complete restore as a new device. Yay. I will give that a shot tonight and report back.

[DoctorK]

Another update... restoring did nothing. AppleCare conferenced in Verizon who basically took all features off my line, then added them back in, had me do a re-activation, still nothing. It appears to be something wrong with the FaceTime Activation database where it's still linked to my old number so it won't authorize my new number. The issue has been passed up to the FaceTime engineers and hopefully we'll have some more information in the morning...

[wcarlson40#IM]

Dang, same problem here. Just ported my number from a Sprint line to Verizon, and FaceTime won't enable.....

[aggieastrosfan]

Having issues here also. Always VZW customer, didn't do any ESN swapping. I go into Settings > Phone, and see the option for FaceTime. It's set to OFF, but under it says "Your phone number will be shared with people you call with FaceTime". I set it to on. I go back to settings. Go into phone again, and it's back to off. No matter what I do, as soon as I leave the screen it sets to off. I tried to use my iPod to do a FT call, and it said I wasn't available for FT.

I restored a backup from my iPod, and it's giving me other issues with the Favorites list, so I'm thinking I have to suck it up and restore.

[iSRS]

If it wont work on an Alltel plan then facetime isnt worth changing for. There has to be a way big V can get it to work.

I think I get what you are saying, but there is no charge for FaceTime.

[DoctorK]

The latest word from the engineers is that they are working with Verizon to diagnose what's wrong with my phone. I have spent about 5 hours over the last 48 hours on tech support calls with Verizon and Apple to get this fixed. It's not a major feature, I understand that. But it's something that is unique to the iPhone and something they marketed as being a "game changer." So I would like it to work, and I would rather not have to spend more time on tech support or restore as new and re-install everything again.

At what point is it reasonable (or advisable) to ask for a replacement?

[wcarlson40#IM]

The latest word from the engineers is that they are working with Verizon to diagnose what's wrong with my phone. I have spent about 5 hours over the last 48 hours on tech support calls with Verizon and Apple to get this fixed. It's not a major feature, I understand that. But it's something that is unique to the iPhone and something they marketed as being a "game changer." So I would like it to work, and I would rather not have to spend more time on tech support or restore as new and re-install everything again.

At what point is it reasonable (or advisable) to ask for a replacement?

Agreed. I bought both a Iphone 4 and an Ipod Touch specifically so I could FaceTime to my family while I travel. It IS a major feature....

[iSRS]

At what point is it reasonable (or advisable) to ask for a replacement?

I would think now if it is indeed a hardware issue. It doesn't sound it from what I am reading, but I also wouldn't wait too long since Verizon's return policy is 14 days.

[wcarlson40#IM]

I just found an app that will apparently fix the problem, but it requires a jailbreak.

About | MiTime.info

The pure idea that an app like this exists pisses me off. It means Apple is INTENTIONALLY trying to block FaceTime on other carriers, and they haven't yet realized that they screwed up when they are also blocking LEGITIMATE customers that ported their phone number to Verizon from another carrier...

[DoctorK]

I bought it from the Apple store, so I have a 30-day return policy, but it's still under a 1 year warranty, so I'm not too concerned about that...

[joekawasaki]

My phone now says Verizon on top next to 3G and Facetime activated. Haven't tried it yet though. Apparently Verizon is pushing out a fix.

[jb1dsl]

Mine is up and working as well

[Rene Ritchie]

Guys, we have the TiPb.com blog for a reason

How to fix the Facetime waiting for activation error:

How to fix FaceTime waiting for activation error on iPhone 4 | TiPb

[DoctorK]

Sorry to interject, but that article does not help most of us, who are still suffering the problem after trying those suggestions and more. I have logged about 5 hours on the phone with AppleCare and Verizon Tech Support. There is a problem with some non-former-Alltel Verizon customers who did an ESN swap. Engineers from both companies are looking into it.

[wcarlson40#IM]

Guys, we have the TiPb.com blog for a reason

How to fix the Facetime waiting for activation error:

How to fix FaceTime waiting for activation error on iPhone 4 | TiPb

Thanks Rene. It didn't work, though. I think there may be more than one problem going on here. I don't even get a "waiting for activation" message. I'll switch FaceTime on in the Phone settings menu, but nothing happens. When I go back to the same Phone settings menu, the slider for FaceTime is back in the Off setting (it won't stay On)...

I originally restored my new Verizon Iphone from an Ipod touch backup. Maybe that is my problem. I guess I'm going to wipe everything on my Iphone ( ) and try setting it up again as a new device.....

[DjDrew#IM]

make sure you are on wifi when trying to use it

[wcarlson40#IM]

Thanks, but of course we know we need wifi to use it (read beginning of thread).

Anyways, doing a hard reset and erasing everything, and then setting up a NEW device in iTunes (rather than restoring) seemed to fix everything. It was a big pain, and I lost a lot of settings and configurations, but FaceTime is working great now!

[DoctorK]

Another update, if anyone is still facing this issue...

I haven't heard back from AppleCare about the Apple/Verizon engineer pow-wow that was supposed to fix me. So I went to the local Apple store to swap out phones to see if the hardware was the problem. It didn't make a difference - FaceTime is still "waiting for activation." So the issue is definitely somewhere between Apple and Verizon. Because Verizon completely re-provisioned my entire service, I am thinking this is an Apple issue.

[DoctorK]

OK, my final update. FaceTime works today. While I was on hold with AppleCare, who was talking with a Verizon Tech person claiming that Apple was the problem, my "waiting for activation" message went away and FaceTime started working.

I don't know if it's related to the hardware swap from yesterday, if a Verizon or Apple engineer "flipped a switch" or whatever, but I'm grateful to the AppleCare guy for helping me out, and I'm glad to finally have access to all of the features of my phone.

[Jf15]

I love FaceTime but skype is so much more clear even over 3G vs wifi.